I agree that Nighbor may still be underrated here. Nighbor was the second pick on my board in ATD 2011 at pick 30 and he was the second pick on my board here at pick 25.

It's funny because he's almost certainly rated more highly here than anywhere else in 2012. Ottawa really fell off the hockey map after the Senators left, and at some point Nighbor had no supporters left to remind people how great he was.

The 1927-28 all-star voting by managers is interesting. I posted it here some time ago. Three managers* put Frank Nighbor at centre of their first all-star team - this after a season in which he had scored 13 points at the age of 35. Howie Morenz was obviously the best forward in the league, as he won the scoring race by over 25% and received the other seven first-team votes at centre.

What were these three managers thinking, putting Nighbor at centre? All three of them put Morenz at LW of their first team all-star team. It seems that these managers were selecting their all-star team with a focus on team, and were putting together the best six-player unit. And they thought a 35-year-old Frank Nighbor, who was the lowest scoring regular on his team, was still the player to centre that unit. Morenz could play on his wing.

Edit: Given the discussion over Hooley Smith's effectiveness at RW it's interesting to see that two managers picked him over Bill Cook for their first team RW in 1927-28. The article says "Though playing center after after Eddie Gerard shook up his lineup, Smith, christened Reginald J., is really a right winger and there he is on the all-star six."

That's very interesting information. Lots of good stuff in there. The managers ultimately didn't have Smith on their all-star team, but they did think something of him at RW. I like the bit about Ching being a "fast albeit clumsy skater". I hadn't known that.

Yes, the lack of a persistent media machine in Ottawa has not been good for the reputation of the old-time Sens. We have corrected many distortions about that team over the course of this project, but it has been a lot of work. I really wonder what Nighbor's reputation would be if he'd played in Montreal.